God of War: Chains of Olympus
God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP is a video game developed by Ready at Dawn Studios in 2008. It was the first game in the series to be released for the PSP, the second being Ghost of Sparta. It is a prequel to the video game God of War and takes place after God of War: Ascension. The game takes place in the period in which Kratos served the Gods of Olympus for ten years. Over the years, Kratos had to complete several goals in order to achieve redemption for the nightmares that haunt him. Gameplay Kratos, the main character in the God of War series, uses an array of both weapons and magic powers to fight variety of enemies, with most of them based on monsters of Greek myth. All throughout the game, Kratos can find red experience orbs which allow him to level up his weapons and magic powers, as well as Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers that allow him to increase his health and magic meters. Throughout the story of the game, Kratos obtains numerous weapons and powers from the various Gods of Olympus, with many of them pertaining to classic Greek myth. Story Set halfway through Kratos' ten years servitude to the Gods, Chains of Olympus begins with Kratos being dispatched to the city of Attica to help defend it from the invading Persian army. Soon after his arrival, the Spartan spots a basilisk climbing over the city walls, and gives chase. During his chase, Kratos confronts the Persian King inside the city and kills him. Taking the King's power to summon the Efreet, he then encounters the basilisk, and kills it. After defeating the basilisk, he witnesses the sun fall from the sky, plunging the world in darkness. Following the dim remaining light on the horizon, Kratos fights his way through the city of Marathon, along the way encountering the black fog of Morpheus, which now covers the land in darkness. Eventually Kratos makes his way to the Temple of Helios, source of the remaining light, and the Sun chariot. He encounters a statue of Athena, who tells him that Helios has disappeared and Morpheus has used this to his advantage to cause the gods to fall into a deep slumber. Athena wants Kratos to retrieve Helios so he can release Morpheus' grasp on the other gods and his power over the Earth. Along the way, Kratos is haunted by a strange melody, which he later recognizes as a song played by his daughter, Calliope. Making his way through the Temple of Helios, Kratos encounters Helios' sister, Eos, who promptly sends him to the caves within the temple of Olympus. She guarantees Kratos the gods will relieve him of his nightmares if he agrees to save Helios from the Titan Atlas, who abducted him. Casting her promise aside, as the gods betrayed him before, Kratos nevertheless agrees, albeit reluctantly, to save Helios. Kratos then retrieves the primordial fire needed to awaken the fire steeds from the cave and returns to the temple. After restoring the fire steeds back to life, the horses lead Kratos into the underworld before retreating. There, he meets Charon, on his ferry, upon the river Styx. The ferryman soon lists the similarities between himself and Kratos, saying they are both slaves to the Olympians. Charon then tells Kratos to go, saying it is not yet his time. Having denied Kratos passage, and Kratos refusing to leave, they engage in a fight, before Charon knocks Kratos unconscious and drops him into Tartarus. There, Kratos witnesses the breaking of the chains binding Atlas to the pits of Tartarus. After some time, the Spartan fights and climbs his way out of Tartarus, returning to defeat Charon. Seizing control of the ferry, he follows the light of Helios, currently illuminating the underworld, down the river Styx, coming upon the Temple of Persephone. To his own surprise, he sees his daughter Calliope on the shorelines of the temple, and follows her inside. Unable to locate her, instead he meets Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. Persephone tells Kratos that Calliope is in the fields of Elysium and that the only way to see her again is for Kratos to "release" all of his past evils and become worthy of Elysium, giving up his powers given to him by the gods; however, Persephone warns him that the world will suffer for his choice. After transferring his power into the Forsaken Tree, which included all of his weapons, his magic and relics, Kratos regains his humanity, becoming a normal man and being reunited with his daughter. However, Persephone appears: she taunts and mocks Kratos' choice and reveals to him her true plans. Bitter at being betrayed by Zeus, tricked by Hades and abandoned by the gods, Persephone was the one who had freed Atlas. While Kratos was disarming himself, Atlas was slowly carrying out Persephone's plan to destroy the pillar that holds the world, and with it, Olympus. Persephone plans to kill everyone, including herself, to free her from her situation. Kratos realizes now that if he stays with his daughter, it would mean the end of the world for everyone, including Calliope and himself. Though it tears him apart, he sacrifices seeing his daughter again in order to regain his power by killing all the souls in Elysium. From some of the souls he gets back his weapons, relics and magic. Because of this, he once more becomes the Ghost of Sparta, regaining his characteristic appearance. After which, Calliope cries out in anguish to a reborn Kratos, who presses on. With his skills restored, Kratos pursues Persephone, catching her at the base of the pillar. She tells him it is the end, then reveals her other form - a winged woman wearing black armor - before carrying Kratos to the top of the pillar. Once they reach the summit, Kratos and Persephone engage in a bloody final battle; during the battle, Persephone tries to subdue and confuse Kratos, urging him to go back to Elysium and be with Calliope, and when he resists, she orders Atlas to destroy him. Kratos chains Atlas to the roof of the underworld before returning to battle Persephone and eventually killing her with the Gauntlet of Zeus. Dying, but uncaring of her fate, the goddess taunts Kratos, snarling that now his suffering shall never end as her body then explodes, severing the pillar in the shockwave with Atlas now the only thing holding the world together. Though the Titan too gloats to him about the gods' true plans for him, Kratos believes his path is clear, serving them regardless so they will keep their promises to free him from his nightmares as it is all he has left. Atlas ends by foretelling that they will meet again. Keeping his own promise to the gods, Kratos returns Helios to the sky. But he is left with the knowledge that his sins have consumed him, and he will never be pure enough to see his daughter again. Weak from battle, Kratos falls unconscious from the sun chariot, but is suddenly stopped before striking the ground, being placed on the cliffs that he would later jump from in the original God of War. Two gods, Athena and Helios approach him and, as they praise him for his work, remove the Sun Shield and the Gauntlet of Zeus. As they depart through the gate to Olympus, Helios suggests on helping the warrior further, only for Athena to refuse by saying "He'll live. They must". The pair then retreat through the gateway to Olympus, leaving an unconscious Kratos at the cliffs overlooking the Aegean Sea. Characters *Kratos - The protagonist and anti-hero of the God of War series. Was once a great Spartan general but is now forced to serve the Gods. Later in the series he replaces Ares as the God of War. *Eos - The Goddess of dawn and Helios' sister. Barely holding on after her brother's disappearance, which caused Morpheus to take over the Earth, Eos asked Kratos to find Helios, and tells him to acquire the Sun Shield. *Morpheus - The God of Dreams. He took advantage of Helios' disappearance by casting the Gods into a deep slumber and began enveloping the Earth into the Black Fog. *Calliope - Daughter of Kratos. Calliope was born and raised in Sparta, living with her mother in the country. While Calliope was easily frightened by her father's violent nature, in truth, Calliope, along with her mother, were the only people to not fear him. Now, she is dead, killed by her own father, but, mysteriously, Kratos begins to feel her presence nearby. *Helios - The God of Sun, Eos' and Selene's brother, who mysteriously disappears, dooming the world to eternal darkness. His disappearance has led to Morpheus' takeover. *Charon - In order to reach the location in Underworld in which Helios is located, Kratos has to face the ferryman of Styx himself: the powerful being known as Charon. *Atlas - The great, enduring Titan. Liberated by Persephone in order to capture Helios and, using him, destroy the Pillar which holds the world on it, thus killing the Gods, and the humanity with them. *Persephone - The Goddess of Underworld, who decided to take her own revenge on the Gods by freeing Atlas and guiding him into destruction of the Pillar which holds the world on it, using the captured Helios. Enemies Bosses *Persian King - The Persian King leads his army against the city of Attica. Kratos confronts him in one of the city's halls. The King is a massive, towering warrior armed with a big sword and a magic Efreet. Kratos succeeds in defeating the King, and, despite the King's pleads to spare his life, kills him by repeatedly crushing a chest onto his head. *Basilisk - The great evil, a giant monster brought forth by Persians to conquer Greece. This lizard-like monster is fought many times during the battle of Attica. The beast generates fire inside its mouth and spit enormous fireballs, ruining the city around it. Kratos succeeds in killing it by keeping its mouth closed by force, while the beast was to spit a fireball. This results in the fireball exploding inside Basilisk's mouth, instantly killing the great monster. *Charon - The ferryman of Underworld, Charon is fought twice. This old, half-undead man uses his magic powers (especially his mask) and a powerful scythe against Kratos. He even defeats Kratos and sends him in Tartarus, from which Kratos returns, armed with the Gauntlet of Zeus. Using this new power, Kratos defeats the ferryman by cutting him in two pieces and repeatedly beating his face with the Gauntlet. *Persephone - The Queen of Underworld, which is plotting to bring the end of the World. Kratos confronts her in the end of the game. In battle, she takes forms of an armored woman with butterfly-like wings. The Titan Atlas is also present, helping her by attacking Kratos with his giant four arms. Kratos succeeds in weakening her form, thanks to the power radiated from Helios (who is being held in Atlas' arms) which he targets into her body. Then, he delivers the final blow with the Gauntlet of Zeus, finishing Persephone's life (causing Hades' anger). Items and abilities Weapons *Blades of Chaos - Powerful blades Given to Kratos by Ares when he pledged his allegiance to him. They're a pair of large curved blades that are attached to Kratos' arms via chains. He can swing them about to strike enemies. *Gauntlet of Zeus - This Gauntlet of Zeus was a gigantic gauntlet forged by Hephaestus, and used by Zeus to chain the mighty Titans in the depths of Tartarus. It was given to the Jailer of Tartarus to protect, and only he had the key to the Temple of Zeus. Magic *Efreet - Kratos obtains the ability to use the fiery Djinn after defeating the Persian King during the siege of Attica. When used, it unleashes the fire spirit which attacks all surrounding enemies. *Light of Dawn - After obtaining Primordial Fire within the Caves of Olympus, Kratos is able to summon orbs of bright light and hurl them at his enemies. *Charon's Wrath - When Kratos battles Charon, the ferryman has the ability to blast green, ravenous flames at the Spartan warrior, via the golden mask he wears. Kratos gains this power after confronting Charon the second time. Relics *Sun Shield - The Sun Shield is an object of the Gods used to block attacks and return projectiles. Kratos obtained the Shield within the Temple of Helios *Triton's Lance - Triton's Lance is a spear-like item that Kratos finds in the Caves of Olympus. It allows him to breath underwater, much like Poseidon's Trident. *Cryptkeeper's Key - This key helps Kratos go through Tartarus. Bonus Costumes *Spud of War: Kratos in a potato = the Spud of War. *McKratos: I am McKratos. *Mime of War: You are the Mime of War. Cut Content *A costume that was supposed to work with the Gauntlet of Zeus, called the "Gauntlet Armor," was cut from the final publication of the game. The costume works similar to the fashion of the Legionnaire costume which works with the Arms of Sparta. Gauntlet Armor.jpg April Fool '09 Gag *'Companion Cube': Ready at Dawn trolled its consumer fanbase over a so-called "extremely well-hidden cameo" skin aka Cube of War. The Cube's design is based off the same Cube from Portal series, except for the large Omega symbol in the center. A dev representative explained how it can be obtained: the player must must complete Chains of Olympus in God Mode NUR PAIN+ No Dying Run twice, as well as collecting all Urns of Powers per runs. However, this created a controversy. First, the Portal series are owned by Valve, creator of Steam client. Using the skin will created a backlash and bad ties between Sony and Valve. Second, there are no Urns of Power in Chains of Olympus. They appear in God of War II. While one can complete NUR+ or PAIN+ No Damage Run (may require some skills), anyone trying to complete Chains of Olympus with the Urns requirement would find that it is 100% impossible. Cast * Terrence C. Carson - Kratos * Debi Derryberry - Calliope * Marina Gordon - Persephone, Female Greek * Linda Hunt - Narrator * Dwight Schultz - Helios, Charon, Fire Guard, Male Greek * Fred Tatasciore - Atlas, Persian King, Soldier * Erin Torpey - Athena, Eos Trivia *Although this game takes place before God of War, Hades treats Kratos respectfully during his quest to defeat Ares, despite Kratos having killed Persephone prior to these events. It is most likely Zeus ordered Hades to aid Kratos on his journey, despite his feelings, or, Hades understood Kratos' motives for killing Persephone, and wasn't affected by the evils of Pandora's Box until after Ares was killed. *Unlike the other games, Kratos' magical abilities are more related to the powers of Helios. *This is the only game that does not feature Ares, neither in appearance nor mentioned by others. *The PSP version features Atlas misspelled as Altas in the subtitles. The PS3 Remastered port fixed this error. 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